Megalithic Europe

From about 4500 BC, people throughout Europe began building monuments such as stone circles, using massive standing stones called megaliths. They also erected dolmens – two upright stones topped by a horizontal one – that were used as tombs.

Stone circles were laid out carefully, according to strict mathematical rules, but no one is sure what they were used for. They may have been used for studying the Sun, Moon and stars, or they may have been temples, where religious ceremonies were held. Experts think that sacrifices, both human and animal, may have taken place inside these intriguing circles of stone.

Megalithic builders also constructed stone monuments over the graves of their dead. Often these were long, passage-like chambers lined with megaliths and buried under a mound of earth, a structure known as a barrow.

One tomb contained over 40 skeletons, possibly several generations of the same family. The bodies were not put immediately into the grave, but were exposed until most of the flesh had rotted away. Offerings of food and drink, pots and tools were left at the tomb entrance for the dead to use in the next world.